Posts

Time to make the arse of this bug look a bit more like a baja!

I spent a fair bit of time getting the rear fenders and engine cover aligned nicely.

Then out with the angle grinder to chop the rear apron off.

Much better. 😁

Made a good start on the chassis rebuild today. Fuel line and gear shift rod installed. Rear brakes rebuilt and new bearings pressed in. Loosely fitted most of the rear suspension components. 😁

Few bits left to sort on the Baja suspension before I can shot blast and paint it all.

Fully welded on my brackets for the front tube bumper and added a strengthening plate to the base of the shock tower.

A stock beetle beam doesn’t have a lower bump stop so I’ve added a hook and rod to hopefully save my shocks from any heavy off road use.

Sometimes things don’t quite go to plan.

After epoxy priming the chassis last Friday I was planning to seam seal the whole chassis the next day, only to find the paint was covered in wrinkles and was still wet in places. Thinking that perhaps the cold weather might’ve affected it I left it to harden for a week.

When I went down Friday the paint was still wet so I knew something had gone horribly wrong. I double checked the data sheets and discovered that my paint supplier had sent me the wrong hardener! My chassis was coated in a useless mess.

Cue 2 days of stripping the gloop off with a wire wheel and repriming it with some of the old epoxy primer I had left over from the van.

I’ll now erase this whole fiasco from my memory.

A few pics from the shot blasters today. Picking up the chassis tomorrow and into primer on Friday! Can’t wait. 

A very wet day today! Stream in the forest burst its banks so ended up cycling through 1ft of water. Stupidly ignored a road closed sign on the way home and hit 18inches or so of flood water! 😳

On the plus side I got the front beam all stripped down ready to clean up and add some reinforcement to.

Back at my day job this week after 4 weeks furlough.

I managed to get a huge amount done on the bug over the last month, to the point that the chassis is nearly ready for some paint. Dropped off at Metalblast today for shot blasting, ready for me to epoxy it when I get it back.

Last upholstery job for the baja; the front seats.

Max and B are happy that they’re comfy, and they fit me well too.

Further fabrication and welding for the bus gearbox today.

Framehorns clearanced to make room for the output shafts (it’s a big boy!)

Rear mounts welded to the framehorns.

Plate fabricated and front mount welded to it so I can use the original mounting bolts to attach it to the chassis (plate made from 3mm steel which is hard work bending!)

Made a good start on getting the bus gearbox to fit the bug chassis today. Frame horns clearanced to make room for it, and throttle/clutch cable guide tubes moved outwards.